UK Election: Exit Polls Indicate Hung Parliament

Polls are now closed in the United Kingdom, and the UK Guardian published an exit poll indicating that no party won a majority. So, there could be what is called a “hung parliament”–a House of Commons where no one party holds a majority of seats. In many parliamentary systems, this is not an unusual occurrence and results in a coalition government, but in two-party-dominated Britain, this could turn out to be a watershed event.

The Conservatives are projected to win a plurality, but not a majority of seats. As per the exit poll:

Conservatives: 307 seats

Labour: 255 seats

Liberal Democrats: 59 seats

Others: 29 seats

If there is a hung parliament, it would require forming a coalition government, likely one of the major parties–Labour or the Tories (Conservatives)–joining with the Liberal Democrats. It is more likely that it would be Labour. This would give the Liberal Democrats serious leverage to make demands, possibly getting some of their long-desired electoral reforms–a move away from the single-member districts and the “first past the post” system that favors two major parties–offered for a vote in Parliament.

You can follow the UK election results at the Guardian and at the BBC.

Jon Walker

Jonathan Walker grew up in New Jersey. He graduated from Wesleyan University in 2006. He is now living in the Washington DC area. He created a politics and policy blog, The Walker Report (http://jwalkerreport.blogspot.com/).